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Johor’s royal scent bottled

Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 09.09 AM

Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar testing the Sultan Ibrahim Satu (SI 1) at Dewan Sultan Iskandar, UTM Skudai, in Johor Baru. With him is Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman. — NST picture by Zain Ahmed

JOHOR BARU: Fancy owning a piece of royalty?

Try out the Sultan Ibrahim Satu (SI 1) and Sultan Ibrahim Dua (SI 2), two perfumes that Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar helped to create.

During the launching here yesterday, Sultan Ibrahim said the fragrances represented the uniqueness of Johor. Priced at RM790 per 15ml bottle, both perfumes come in an elegant handcrafted wrought-silver container with the special SI 1 and SI 2 logos in copper.
The project was initiated by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Institute of Bio-product Development (IBD) following the 53-year-old sultan’s visit to the facility early this year.

IBD director Professor Ramlan Abdul Aziz said they decided to take up the sultan’s challenge to formulate a perfume that would suit him best.

After five months, the team came up with 10 scents using quality products, including sandalwood, saffron, amber and fragrant oils called Kijang and Kasturi.
“The sultan liked these two the best, which uses sandalwood oil as its base,” said Ramlan.

With plans to market it commercially, he said the fragrances were currently available at UTM’s front office at the Sultan Ismail International Airport in Senai here.

Following the launch of his perfumes, Sultan Ibrahim also graced the launching of a book entitled Sejarah Adat Istiadat DiRaja Johor (The History of the Johor Royal Customs) by Johor Council of Royal Court secretary Datuk Abdul Rahim Ramli.
Rahim, 70, took about 11/2 to complete the book on how the Johor Royalty customs were initiated, the history behind its Bugis influences and aspects of its unique cultures. The book is published by UTM Publisher.

Also present at the ceremony were Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, UTM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Zaini Ujang, and UTM pro-Chancellors Datuk Dr Muhammad Ridzuan Salleh and Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor.